The D’Addario Nickel Bronze strings that I mentioned in my initial post last June will have lasted a year at the end of this month. They are still resonant and stay in tune remarkably well. If you’re at all inclined to experiment with strings, I’d recommend giving them a try.
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It’s been a while, and I’ve already gone through a set of strings on both acoustics as I continue to experiment.
On the six-string, I tried SIT Silencers 11-50, which, after the D’Addario NBs, felt slightly sharp to the touch. Next time I might try 12s. On the Twin Six, I used my go-to DR Rare Bronze 10-48.
On the Twin Six, I’ve changed to an extra-light set of GHS PB 9-42, which are far easier to play in standard tuning and sacrifice nothing in the way of tome and volume. I also have a set of D’Addario PB 9-45s (EJ41) to try next. I’d definitely recommend these extra-light sets to any players of 12-string.
On the Six, I’ve gone the opposite way, with GHS Vintage Bronze Bluegrass 12-56, which have taken a couple of weeks to get used to. The string spacing is rather tight, so thinner strings allow for marginally more room for fingers. Thicker strings have imposed a greater discipline on me to be precise to avoid unintentionally muting strings.
For practice, I have continued starting with the beginner finger stretches, but have varied it by descending the frets, which requires lifting each finger and precisely placing the pinkie on the next string along. It’s only slightly more challenging to explain than it is to do. As for lessons, I have temporarily stalled at Grade 2 Module 13: Blues because of lack of time to concentrate, as summer is upon us!
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Nice. I just started noodling on that myself as I try to get back at it. It sounded good. Loved the “And many more” at the end.
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The “And many more” ending is based on the C7 chord. It’s the kind of thing you discover while noodling.
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I think I figured it out last night while noodling around. 
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Revisiting this learning log, I’m amazed to see that I last updated it in August of '23, and that I’ve still got the Twin Six strung with the same GHS PB 9-42s. I’ve lined up the next set to replace them, but will have to postpone the restringing until after a major road trip.
The Single Six I restrung with GHS PB Thin Core 12-52s back in December '23. These are excellent strings that could easily become my go-to strings.
After being in a holding pattern with practicing what I know, I’ve undertaken to learn Simon & Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence. It’s good practice using the capo and fingerstyle.
What with work and driving season, I don’t have time to practice for hours a day as when I started during the pandemic, but I’ve got the basics under my fingers now. Still, every time I’m tempted to post an update, I start playing first.
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Note to self: When string the Twin Six, the thicker string gets stung first before the thinner string in the course. Stringing it upside-down makes it nearly impossible to play.
Then one of the high E strings snapped while tuning up. Though it seems a waste of strings, Mrs. Twin Six tells me, “Those were your 2024 strings.” I’ll take that as a reminder that I really should change guitar strings more frequently than once a year.
So that’s one fresh set of DR Rare 10-48s wasted and a fresh set of D’Addario 9-45s (EJ41) correctly strung. D’Addario’s color coded string ends help make re-stringing easier. Unfortunately, both high E strings snapped before even getting into tune and then the steel D string snapped.
I’ve never had so much trouble with restringing before, which has always been fairly routine. I’m too frustrated to start over with a fresh set. I have GHS Vintage Bronze 10-46, tried & true, and Dean Markley 11-50 round core, which are heavier than any strings I’ve tried, and might not dare tune them up to standard tuning. Those are my choices at the moment.
The Single Six is now restrung with DR Sunbeams 11-50, which are settling in nicely. The resonance & sustain are a reminder of why strings should be changed more than once in two years!
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That’s interesting that the high E was the string that snapped. The octave G is the most common to snap on a 12 string since it’s the same gauge as the high E but tuned three semitones higher. Restringing a twelve string is a true test of patience and a labor of love. They do sound amazing once done.
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It’s been a long time since I snapped a G string. I’m always careful about tuning those up. I’ve snapped an E string before, but not often. The D string was a surprise, and snapping three from one set was a first. I always give the strings a good stretch while restringing, and then tune up very slowly in even increments across the set, so ruining two good sets really irked me.
The Dean Markley medium lights are next, and that should work out better.
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Back in the ‘80s some college buddy’s and I were camping and I took my 12 string. I don’t recall why I thought it a good idea to restring it on a picnic table. Maybe it already had a broken string 
- I don’t know. Anyway, one of my friends who doesn’t play guitar thought it a good idea to tune it and tune it fast. I was like “Slow down! You’ll snap a string!” Sure enough, the brand new octave G snapped then and there. He just starts laughing as I was berating him that I knew that would happen. The irony is that he is in the science field and should know better.
Back then I often tuned it half a step down, especially with new strings just to prevent them from snapping.
Oh dear! That’s quite the tale. You really do need to sneak up on the tuning little by little.
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Finally succeeded in restringing the Twin Six with the Dean Markley 11-50s. This is a heavier gauge than I’ve used before, but being round-core, they don’t feel so heavy. They have a fat, rich voicing.
In other restringing failures, I yesterday decided to change the strings on the Telecaster for the first time. Reminder to self, start the thinner strings with more slack and more windings around the peg, and let the strings settle for a bit before cutting off the loose ends. The high E string slipped off the peg after I cut the ends, and I couldn’t get it back through the peg. Now I have to go get a single high E at the local music store, but it’s good to visit there now & then.
I’ll get two more string sets for my brother’s guitars than he never plays (he’s a drummer). They could use new strings and a good cleaning, and evidently I need more practice changing strings.
I’ve been busy reading the Learning Logs of others based on an analogy of the dubious proposition that if you don’t go to other people’s funerals, they won’t go to yours.
So I have been reading other learning logs hoping others might read mine, but at least I should have something more interesting to say than every brutal detail of every string change.
Well, then, for a major digression, I mentioned driving season and a road trip, so here’s a brief history of my life on four wheels.
First, the Twin Six after which I named my twelve-string, a '32 Packard Dietrich individual custom Convertible Victoria, shown here (in a poor scan) as it appeared in the Automobile Quarterly book on Packard. It was extremely rare for someone to get Ray Dietrich to design a car with rear-mounted spares instead of side-mounts. This is the car when it belonged to my grandfather.
My first car was a '60 VW Beetle that I drove for many years. In 1985, I dove it across the US from Nantucket Island (cue limericks) to San Diego and back. Here is the car in either New Mexico or Arizona looking very much the worse for wear. Sadly, the transmission bearings burned out on the way back. During the final leg of the journey, a blizzard started about half way through Kentucky, and all across Ohio I managed to hold the road as eighteen wheelers jackknifed here and there. I had to get past Pittsburgh, which I managed, but I was almost certain I was going to get killed along the way.
Finally, our current car of interest is the '80 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II that my wife inherited from her late father. She had it recommissioned in 2021 and after a road trip across England, imported it to the US. Here we are in Harpswell, Lincolnshire on our first shakedown cruise. We’re the first residents of Harpswell, Maine to visit the original Harpswell since 1948. I’m holding a copy of our local paper.
The car is named James after my wife’s father, and so we can always say, “Home, James.” We have driven it to two Rolls-Royce Owners’ Club Annual Meets, first in 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, and this year in Colorado Springs. At our first meet, we won Third in the Touring category and Postwar Preservation for an all original car. This year, we took Second in Touring and won the distance awards both for our class and for the meet overall. Next weekend (Labor Day weekend) we are participating in the Lime Rock Concours d’Elegance, where we’ve been accepted as one of the featured marques for 120 years of Rolls-Royce.
We make it look easy, but owning this car is a lot of work.
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Yesterday, I experimented with trying to record myself playing the Twin Six. First, I charged up an old smart phone that’s been sitting in a box for several years. I recorded a mediocre video, but could not get the phone to communicate with any computer, not with the USB cable nor with Bluetooth. My everyday phone is a dumb phone that’s so badly designed that it’s barely fit for purpose. But Mrs. Twin Six has a proper iPhone, and she recorded me playing Wish You Were Here very badly, even though in practice I can play it perfectly any number of times. Anyhow, decent videos of me playing will be forthcoming.
Today is the day we’re prepping the RR for the Lime Rock Concours. I washed & dried it in the morning shade. Now I’m busy polishing the paintwork with Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound, after which I’ll use Zymol HD cleanse before waxing it with Zymol Creame. The Mrs. is detailing all of the rubber & plastic using Aerospace 303. It’s an all-day job using a lot of elbow grease. The before & after differences are amazing.
Tomorrow morning, we head out on the road for the nearly 300-mile journey to our accommodation near the Lime Rock racing circuit. Besides the concours, there will be lots of racing of historic cars.
Back to music, I was looking for videos of Leo Kotke playing 12-string and discovered this Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@8MinuteAxe
Enjoy!
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Cool that you are taking a stab at recording. 
. Thanks for sharing the Leo Kotke link. That’s cool that he has a site dedicated to the twelve string. This is getting added to my list of channels to watch.
That link is a guy who’s all about 12-string.
Leo Kotke’s Youtube is here: https://www.youtube.com/@leokottkeofficial/featured
For 12-string ever resource we can get is a bonus.
Ah, didn’t pay attention to the name but I did save it. Such a cool site.
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@frito Thanks for bring my attention to Justin Johnson. While searching Youtube for something else, this video of Justin playing blues on an Alvarez Yairi came up. The guitar is almost identical to the Twin Six but has herringbone binding and mahogany back & sides.
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Happy to share him. I am always left dumbfounded when I watch his videos. I can’t imagine how many hours he has put in over the year to do what he does.
Here’s a good 12-string lesson that’s added a lot to my knowledge of the instrument. He makes a lot of good points, but no, I haven’t been doing it wrong. His guitar is an Alvarez but not a Yairi. Anyhow, I’ve found this worth watching repeatedly.
